Last week, the co-founder of Vice Media, stepped down as leader of Proud Boys, saying the group "is not racist. It is pro-Trump. The media lies about this club constantly."

His visa application to enter Australia was blocked by the Home Affairs Department. McInnes was due to visit the land down under for a speaking tour early next year

Immigration officials deemed he had failed a "character test" based on extreme views

McInnes was notified a few weeks ago that the department was likely to block his visa application because he was judged to be of bad character, and the formal window for him to appeal closed a week ago, according to media reports.

In earlier media reports, McInnes blamed fake news and Westchester billionaire George Soros for his demise and spreading lies about his group.

On YouTube, McInnes
said he was officially disassociating himself from the Proud Boys “in all capacities, forever,” to ease some of the legal problems a half dozen group members are facing.

“I’m told by my legal team and law enforcement that this gesture could help alleviate their sentencing. Fine. At the very least, this will show jurors they are not dealing with a gang and there is no head of operations. We are not an extremist group and we do not have ties with white nationalists,” McInnes said. "I'm stepping down from a 'perceived position.'""

The FBI’s 2018 designation of the self-confessed “western chauvinist group” as extremist had not been made public.

McInnes has insisted that his group is not white nationalist or “alt-right” but the Proud Boys have a history of misogyny and glorifying violence. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) lists them as a hate group.

The document also says: “The FBI has warned local law enforcement agencies that the Proud Boys are actively recruiting in the Pacific north-west,” and: “Proud Boys members have contributed to the recent escalation of violence at political rallies held on college campuses, and in cities like Charlottesville, Virginia, Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington.”

The report, and the FBI’s warning to south-west Washington police agencies about the Proud Boys’ role in escalating violence at these events came in August, two months before the group was involved in street violence in New York City and Portland, and not long after they participated in street violence in downtown Portland on June 30.

McInnes rails against liberal decadence: “I blame Soros for all of this,” McInnes said during a September broadcast of Infowars. “Soros is terrorizing me and trying to shut down my fraternal club, the Proud Boys. And he’s paying people to mess with my life, and spread these lies about me, spread fake news.”

In 2016, McInnes founded the Proud Boys—a violent, ultranationalist men’s club—and selling his $2.5 million Brooklyn penthouse to buy a home on Park Avenue in Larchmont.